Monday 5 July 2010

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Homemade Danish Strawberry Jam Without Pectin/Hjemmelavet Jordbær Marmelade/草莓酱[cǎo méi jiàng]




Ingredients:
- 1kg strawberries
- 400g sugar
- 2 limes squeezed (optional)

Directions:
1. Rinse strawberries with stem on, then remove stem to prevent water-logging.

2. Add sugar and lemon and let it sit overnight in the fridge to “marinade” it. You will notice when you take it out from the fridge that the strawberries have exuded lots of juices.

3. Pour the mixture into a large pot (to allow foamy expansion that will occur when boiling).

4. Bring to boil over high heat until foamy, and stir down the foam.

5. Lower heat and simmer so that the jam is bubbling but not boiling over.

6. When strawberries have turned limp, scoop some of the strawberries out if you like your jam with recognizable strawberries, otherwise, just leave it.

7. Test for doneness by taking a spoon of the syrup and placing it on a cold clean plate. If it stiffens up and forms a layer instead of running over the plate, it is done. If not, continue simmering.

8. Once done, add back the whole strawberries into the pot.

9. Pack them in sterilized jar. For canning instructions, please see this link:

http://www.pickyourown.org/jam.htm

OR

You can also just keep the jam in an airtight container in the refrigerator if you don’t bother with the sterilization work.

Storage:
- 1-2 months in the fridge, indefinitely in the freezer or 1 year outside with sterilization.

Nutritional Value:

Strawberries are an excellent source of vitamin C and manganese. They are also a very good source of dietary fiber and iodine. Plus, strawberries are a good source of potassium, folate, vitamin B2, vitamin B5, vitamin B6, omega-3 fatty acids, magnesium, copper, and vitamin K.

Strawberries also contain an array of beneficial phytonutrients, including flavonoids, anthocyanidins and ellagic acid.

Strawberries not only look like a fruity heart-shaped valentine, they are filled with unusual phytonutrients that serves as potent antioxidants. Strawberries' unique phenol content makes them a heart-protective fruit, an anti-cancer fruit, and an anti-inflammatory fruit, all rolled into one.

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Additional Information:
I can’t believe it!!! I made strawberry jam this evening for the first time!!! I have been reading about it, but thought that the process is too time-consuming and tedious.

It’s strawberry season in Denmark (very short, sometime between 23 June to 18 July only), and we went strawberry picking last Saturday. It was our first time and it was an unforgettable wonderful experience! We picked about 3.5kg of strawberries. I wondered what to do with them, and so I decided to take the courage to try at making my own strawberry jam, after J was put to bed.

I have been doing some research over the internet. Most recipes either call for pectin as preservative, use lots of sugar, or are very cumbersome. I have adapted the recipes by taking the best advice from each recipe, and this is one of the simplest recipe using only 3 ingredients, doesn’t require slicing or crushing the strawberries, and uses only half portion of sugar for one portion of strawberries.

Though quite a lot of hard work, it has actually been very cozy and exciting. The strawberries cooking in the pot exuded a sweet candy smell in the whole room... making it very memorable. If I have the time, I wish to make it again with J when he is awake. He would have enjoyed the sensory experience.

The finished jam still needs to be cooled down, thus, I am not sure whether my strawberry jam will turn out looking like jam or more like sauce, since I use less sugar. I will find out tomorrow, but it doesn’t matter to me, as what matters is that it smells good and tastes good. Florian is my gauge. He test tasted it, and said that it was sweet enough.

I intend to give 1 jar to my mother-in-law. Danes in general like home-made things. I think of my mum… I clearly remember that once in a while she used to make pineapple drink or jam. I wish I could give a jar to her… she would be so proud that I have “graduated” to making jam in my cooking progress… but she is so far away... in Singapore. Oh how I wish sometimes that I have my mother just beside me… sharing parts of my life…

I use nartural brown sugar (also called raw sugar) because it may have more of the nutritional molasses present, but normal sugar can also be used.

References:
http://www.dk-kogebogen.dk/opskrifter/visopskrift.php?id=9371

http://www.pickyourown.org/jam.htm

http://www.justhungry.com/strawberry-jam-copious-detail

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brown_sugar

 11 June 2016

11 June 2016

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